“Do you have any rubber gloves here?” Lela asked.
“On the shelf above the washer.”
Pedro was the one that went to get them, and Myrna remained seated. She didn’t move, and it wasboth Robert and Lela that examined the box, opened it, then looked up with matching grins. They reached in and pulled out Zip-Lock bags, fifteen of them, and each of them had writing on them. Inside were glass vials of contents. Myrna assumed they contained what was written on the outside.
“Is this good?” Pedro asked.
“It’s gold,” Lela said, and looked at Robert. “Should we call Wilson?”
“Yes, but let’s document everything first,” Robert said as he pulled out his phone and started snapping pictures. At the end, instead of calling Yvonne Wilson, they sent her an e-mail with the photos.
“What next?” Pedro asked.
“Now we put everything back in the box except for the journal mentioned in the letter, and secure it.” He looked at Myrna. “Does anyone know about the space in your floorboards beneath your desk in the office?”
“No, just me, and now you guys that retrieved the files for me.” She looked at him and nodded. “Yes, go ahead and use it. We’re going to be here packing, and Ilsa Miller will be here today. There’s no way people can get to them.”
Robert and Pedro, who had put on his own pair of gloves, boxed the evidence up and took it to the office. Robert led the way, and they returned in under five minutes. After removing the gloves, washing their hands, Robert started making breakfast.They didn’t say anything until after they had cleaned up after the meal.
“Okay,” Robert began, with a fresh cup of coffee. “Myrna, how do you feel about reading the journal out loud?” As he spoke Lela had gotten pads of papers for everyone to take notes so they could compare them, or take their investigation in a new direction.
Myrna took a sip of her coffee, cleared her throat, and opened the journal. She read off the date, time, and location Mary had written. By the time she was done with the first entry, she was shaking her head in anger.
“Why didn’t she reach out to me?”
“I didn’t know her,” Lela said as she reached out and gently laid her hand over Myrna’s, “but from what I’ve heard so far, she was a private person, and she probably wanted to protect you. By not telling you, she kept you safe, and again, but what you’ve read, she knew you enough that you would help her. Right now, she’s calling out from the grave.”
“I’m not being crass,” Pedro said gently. “But, maybe she thought if you knew back then, you would do something to accelerate Mark’s attack on Mary, then attacking you, and possibly hurting Sally.”
Myrna jumped to her feet, paced, and grabbed a couple of tissues to wipe her tears, and blow her nose. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” the other three said. They all took abreak, using the bathroom, refilling coffee cups, and making a new pot. They were only back at the table for less than a minute when the doorbell rang, and the two agents immediately pulled their guns, and went to investigate, leaving Pedro to protect Myrna.
Robert and Lela returned with a woman walking between them, and she immediately went over to Myrna with her hand outstretched. “Hi, I’m Ilsa Miller.”
Hands were shaken, fresh coffee passed out, and people settled back at the table. She pulled out a folder, and folded her hands over it. Myrna instantly liked her because she didn’t beat around the bush in her talk.
“I went over this file you gave Cole with a fine-tooth comb. I can tell you that on the surface, neither Jason nor I could find any reason as to why someone would want to steal Sally.”
Myrna looked around the table, and when she received nods from the others, she opened the journal, pulled out the letter that Robert had put inside a plastic bag, and pushed it across the table toward Ilsa.
“What’s this?”
“Read it.”
They all waited as she looked at them, read it, and whipped her head up toward them.
“Are you shitting me?”
“No,” Myrna said as she told her how she hadcome into possession of it, and what they had read from the journal so far.
“Before we go any further,” Pedro said as he looked directly at Ilsa. “Will you represent Myrna?”
“Yes, though I don’t see why she would get arrested and need representation.”
“What about not reporting the theft of Sally to the authorities.”
“She did.”
